Buckhannon, WV -- West Virginia Wesleyan Men's Basketball opened their home schedule on Monday night against Salem. This was the first game of the season for the Tigers, and they were certainly ready to play, shooting an incredible 60.0% from the field, and 56.3% from three, to claim an 104-84 victory. The fans that came out to the Rockefeller Center were treated with an exciting game that was full of outstanding shooting performances, and athletic plays, from both sides.Â
The Bobcats were led offensively on Monday night by Senior
Dusan Vicentic and Sophomore
Daylin Lee, who each put in twenty points. Lee got eighteen of his points off of six made three pointers, and Vicentic added ten rebounds to his line as well. This was the second double-double in as many games for Vicentic, and he also swatted three shots on defense.
Luka Petrovic had a good night distributing the basketball, collecting eleven assists, and
Edward Flohr made a few clutch corner-threes during a Bobcats comeback attempt, where they cut the Salem lead to three late in the first half.
The Tigers never relinquished their lead, and they maintained their substantial shooting percentages throughout the game. The game was a tale of two star performances for Salem. Junior Shawn Christian was the opener, as he poured in six of his eight threes in the first half. He finished the game with 29 points, on eight of ten shooting from behind the three-point line. The closer was fellow Junior Jordan Forbes. The 6'4 guard made a handful of deep step-back three pointers in the second half with the defense in his face, and then topped of his performance in the final minutes with a drive and dunk in the lane among many Bobcat defenders. He finished with 26 points on nine of thirteen shooting. The two guards combined to go 18 of 25 from the field.
This is a difficult loss for the Bobcats because they must feel as if they played well enough, certainly offensively, to win this game. Yet, they fall to 0-3 in the early going this season, and were not able to catch a break when they got back on their home floor. It is hard to imagine that another opponent this season will shoot that strongly from the floor and from three, as there was not much the Bobcats could have done to prevent that kind of shooting performance from an entire team. They can take their offensive positives, and look to clean up the defense before Wednesday night. They welcome PSAC newcomer Shepherd to the Rockefeller Center for a 7 PM tip-off. Live coverage and pre-game information will be provided by WVWC Bobcats on Twitter, and the broadcast and live stats will be available through the official Wesleyan Bobcats website.
